Most henna pastes will freeze OK, but you will probably want to give them a good stir to re-integrate the mix again when you de-frost the paste. I only ever use fresh paste on paying customers, but frozen paste is great for friends and family or practice.

Frozen paste should be considered in suspended animation. If its day old, you put it in the freezer for a few weeks, then pull it out for another day, you can refreeze it but now its two days old. Just keep track of how much time its spent thawed! This is fine for practice and friends, but like Cat said, probably not the best choice for paying customers.

I have been freezing my terped henna pastes for years and have not noticed, even slightly, a decrease in quality in terms of staining. Oddly enough, sometimes my frozen pastes actually turn out darker than the fresh stuff. The idea is to freeze it well before it starts to degrade. I've used thawed pastes on clients with excellent results - cherry black on the palms, and walnut brown on the shoulder in 1 hour applications. The paste should be kept in the deepest part of the freezer, never in the door as it experiences too many temperature fluctuations. I also store the paste inside a glass jar, but this is mostly to keep the tea tree aroma from seeping into my food.

Henna Yogin....care to share your recipe or parts of it? :D I'm using the new Raj from this year and don't get that dark of a stain after longer application. I use the kiss recipe with laveder oil & then a blend of cajeput/wild thyme & rosemary. The stain takes longer to darken- 2-3 days instead of 1-2 and doesn't seem to get as dark. Mind sharing what oils you use? :D

Don't mind sharing at all. I use Jamila henna for almost everything. Dye release is slower, so I keep it somewhere in the kitchen where it's warm, about 26-27 degrees C. I start with about 45g of powder. I only use lemon juice as my acid and I mix as usual. After about 18 hours, I add 3ml of Tea Tree, 1.5ml of Lavender, and 1.5ml of Rosemary (all EOs). I leave it to sit for another 10-12 hours and then I do some small spot tests for dye strength. If it looks good, I freeze it ASAP. N.B.: Sometimes I get a bit of a burning sensation with this, but I have sensitive skin, and some people feel nothing at all.

Something important to remember is that if your EOs are old, they will RUIN your henna paste. I recently bumped into this problem. I was making henna pastes that worked quite well without the terping, but they would suddenly stop working once I put in my EOs. All EOs must be kept in the fridge, in the dark, in tightly sealed glass containers. If a year has passed, I would consider replacing them.

Something I noticed about Rosemary EO, it appears to delay the oxidation of the stain. The colour still gets to full strength, it just takes longer. This may be because rosemary is a powerful antioxidant, but I'm not sure. I know it stinks, but maybe just try Tea Tree (or Cajeput) only, see if that helps.

I have no experience with the Rajastani henna powders, but from what I know, they release their dye much more quickly than the Jamila henna. Your dye may be going into demise faster than you expected. Try letting it sit for 8 hours instead, but do it in a small batch, just in case. I am currently wearing a stain from the Jamila 2011 summer crop. At the fingertip (top side) it is almost black in some places, and on my arm it is the colour of roasted almonds. The stain hasn't even reached full strength yet.